ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional Plant Ecology
Coordination between water source partitioning and isohydric-anisohydric behavior shapes contrasting water use strategies of Tamarix chinensis and Ulmus pumila in saline-alkaline soils
Provisionally accepted
- 1Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, China
- 2Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
- 3Shandong Academy of Forestry, Jinan, China
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Plant water-use strategies are key functional traits for survival in water-limited ecosystems. Understanding how water uptake coordinates with physiological characteristics in coastal saline-alkaline environments is crucial for explaining drought adaptation. However, the specific responses of these strategies to water stress in such ecosystems remain unclear. In this study, we used hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope (δ2H and δ18O) combined with a MixSIAR model to quantify seasonal variations in water uptake patterns of T. chinensis and U. pumila in the Yellow River Delta, China. Concurrently, we measured key physiological parameters, predawn and midday leaf water potential (Ψpd, Ψmd) and stomatal conductance (gs), to assess their iso- /anisohydric behaviour. Redundancy analysis (RDA) was further used to explore the coordination between water uptake patterns and iso-/anisohydric strategies. T. chinensis exhibited a plastic water uptake strategy, adjusting water sources with seasonal aridity, and showed anisohydric behaviour characterized by larger ΔΨ and weak gs sensitivity. In contrast, U. pumila maintained a conservative strategy, relying mainly on middle (33%) and deep soil water (31%) throughout the season and displayed isohydric behaviour by tightly regulating gs under declining Ψmd. The distinct water uptake patterns of both species were tightly coordinated with their respective iso-/anisohydric behaviours and associated physiological traits. Anisohydric plasticity in T. chinensis provides greater adaptability to variable precipitation, whereas the conservative isohydric strategy of U. pumila may reduce drought resilience. These insights can guide species selection and management to improve drought tolerance in saline-alkaline coastal plantations.
Keywords: stable isotope, Water source partitioning, MixSIAR model, Iso/anisohydric, behaviour, Water-use strategy, Saline-alkaline soil
Received: 02 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Dong, Wan, Zou, Ren, Yu and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xian Xie, xiexian@lcu.edu.cn
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